"People laughed, people called us lunatics," ministry official N.K.
Sinha said. "They said we are taking the nation for a ride."

Although the $10 goal wasn't achieved, the Aakash has a color screen and
provides word processing, Web browsing and video conferencing. The
Android 2.2-based device has two USB ports and 256 megabytes of RAM.
Despite hopes for a solar-powered version — important for India's
energy-starved hinterlands — no such option is currently available.

Both Sibal and Datawind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli called for competition to
improve the product and drive prices down further.

"The intent is to start a price war. Let it start," Tuli said

Last edited by don570 on Thu 20 Oct 2011, 19:51; edited 2 times in total

With only 256 megs of ram, there is not much room for cache in memory for viewing videos.
But then again, with the graphics chip it is using that is supposed to get with it, you never can tell.
Also, the India site in the specs says the tablet has 1 USB port.
The site in Canada in specs says the tablet has 2 USB ports.

Different models maybe?
Opps. I just realized that the specs list 2 gigs of internal USB storage.
So internal and external would indeed make 2 USB ports.
But it makes you wonder if the internal USB has a standard plug in port.
It sure would make increasing storage capacity easy.
I also noticed it limits USB storage to 32 gigs.
And I wonder if that is due to memory address decoding hardware or availability of USB flash drive size currently being 32gigs max.

I know on a laptop I have, the max memory listed is 512 megs.
and with it, I assume that if I tried to go above that, hardware memory decoding would not let me.
It is like max memory on 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, and 64-bit computers.
An 8-bit computer is only capable of directly addressing a 16bit address.

While the courseware development happens, the world will move on,
with even better tablets that leave the Aakash further behind.

The low battery life of the tablet is a concern
And while I like the 7" size for its portability, students
will find it less friendly than a 10" display for educational apps.
But yes, that would cost more.

And the battery is rated for three hours; we got a bit over
two. The Aakash warms up in use. That means precious battery
power is going away as heat.

So every school kid who uses it will probably need a charging
socket in their desk. And that's not likely to happen soon.
Leaving it to charge repeatedly in common areas is not practical,
for a variety of reasons.

The worst thing for a poor Indian young student has to be replacement of the battery after two years of usage.

AFAIK every standard LiIon battery lose much of it's capacity after about two years of daily usage. Even to just have such on a shelf make them lose capacity.

And to save money these are most likely soldered in place automatically at production?

it would be less costly if them used NiMH which can be replaced by the student themselves and which now and then go on Sales to low prices which I have not seen LiIon go. And them usally are special made for each gadget so them are not interchangeable the way an AA cell is._________________I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

Aakash may prove a failure because, first, used computers are
available at dirt cheap prices. Second and more important is the phenomenal
rise of cell phones. They can increasingly do things that
computers and tablets do.

A basic Indian cell phone costs just $15, far cheaper than an Aakash. In
fact, the cost of the cell phone is only slightly higher than the government's
subsidy, and calls are only two cents a minute. Cell phones can be charged by
batteries in rural areas with little or no electricity. The Aakash, by contrast, will have
an extra charge in the cost of a wireless connection. At this rate, the people
most likely to buy the Aakash are better-off Indians—clearly not those
at whom the subsidy is aimed.

_______________________________________________________Last edited by don570 on Thu 20 Oct 2011, 19:50; edited 1 time in total

Pepper.pk, which is a Lahore based company, has three world No. 1 titles
to its name including the four-time AppWorld No. 1 app, Photo Editor and
has won numerous local awards as well as significant international recognition.
The company’s apps are available across all major mobile platforms including
iPhone/iPad, BlackBerry phones and BlackBerry PlayBook, Windows Phone 7, Android
and Nokia.
The company said that it would start customizing relevant apps from its
current 150 offerings for the Aakash tablet as soon as it becomes commercially available.

Last edited by don570 on Thu 20 Oct 2011, 19:49; edited 1 time in total

Minister Kapil Sibal today said the low cost computing device Aakash
has generated a lot of "enthusiasm" among the American public and several companies
there have evinced interest to associate with the project to further raise
its efficiency and productivity.

Several people and big companies met us who are into this business (IT).
They expressed interest to partner with this project, to increase its application
and speed, increase the processor from 300 MHz to 800 MHz,"
Sibal told reporters here.

However, he said the price tag of USD 35 willl remain
the same and the US firms have agreed to this.

A basic Indian cell phone costs just $15, far cheaper than an Aakash.
In fact, the cost of the cell phone is only slightly higher than the
government's subsidy, and calls are only two cents a minute.

Such is important. People are extremely conservative in habits.
This phenomena has fancy names. Social inertia or similar terms.

You see same behavior in choice of OS. some 90% of all sold computers
to the common average Joe has Ms Windows on it. Social inertia.

Same with email choice. Some 99% of every average person use Hotmail as their email. At least that is how it is in Sweden among those I know.
Social inertia again.

Same with Social Networking. Them are all of them on Face Book and not Google + or some other such platform. Social inertia again.

So that quote may be right. If a typical Indian average Joe has bought a cell phone then them go on texting and making calls on that one and
to buy even a subs is not what them do. Only geeks would and the richer families for their kids._________________I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

"IBM and Intel want to collaborate with India for further
development of this product without touching its price," he said,
adding that the next edition of the device would be much
more advanced, but will be available at the same price of $35.

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forumYou cannot attach files in this forumYou can download files in this forum